Venezuelan President Announces the Capture of American Spy

Venezuelan petroleum refineries in Amuay and Cardón experienced power outages earlier this week. Source

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announced the capture of an alleged U.S. spy in the state of Falcón on September 11. Venezuelan authorities caught the former U.S. Marine surveilling the Amuay and Cardón oil refineries. Maduro claimed that the “gringo empire” (the United States) wants to impede Venezuelan petroleum production, calling the incident  a “war of vengeance” in a televised speech.

President Trump supported the opposition leader, Juan Guaidó in the most recent Venezualan presidential election.. After labeling the Maduro Presidency as illegitimate, President Trump enacted strict sanctions on Venezuelan petroleum. 

President Maduro blames these sanctions for facilitating the long-standing petroleum crisis. Experts instead assert that a multitude of failed policies, a lack of maintenance and investment, and an abundance of corruption cases are to blame for the crisis, with the U.S. only exacerbating its effects.

The Amuay and Cardón oil refineries—both of which make up the Paraguana Refining Center—experienced multiple outages despite being the two largest refineries in Venezuela. Once the world’s largest exporting petroleum power, Venezuela imported oil from Iran, Russia, Turkey, and Cuba on multiple occasions this past year. Two years ago, Venezuela produced approximately 3.2 million barrels of petroleum per day; in July 2020, this number fell drastically  to less than 400,000 barrels per day.

President Maduro accused the United States of exploiting the political opposition to steal Venezuelan oil wealth. Washington and Juan Guaidó, however, blame President Maduro for this economic crisis. 

Approximately one month before the Marine’s capture, a Venezuelan court sentenced two former American soldiers to 20 years in prison for aiding guerrilla groups in an attempt to overthrow President Maduro. The court found Luke Denman and Airan Berry guilty on the counts of conspiracy, terrorism, and the illegal trafficking of weapons. President Donald Trump denied all allegations of U.S. involvement in orchestrating the endeavor. 

After the sentencing, word of the alleged U.S. spy began circulating and led to the arrest of a former U.S. Marine. President Maduro reported that the alleged spy worked on CIA bases in Iraq while news outlets close to Venezuela’s ruling Socialist Party identified the former Marine as Matthew John Heath.

Upon capture, Venezuelan authorities allegedly found Heath in possession of “heavy” and “specialized” weaponry, along with a large amount of U.S. dollars. Ultimas Noticias also reports Heath having a satellite phone, credit cards, and mobile phones. Maduro refused to give additional information about the alleged spy. He did, however, add that the Minister of Petroleum and Vice President of the Economic Area, Tareck El-Aissami, foiled a plan to bomb El Palito Oil Refinery: the closest refinery to Caracas, Venezuela’s  capital. 

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) placed Tareck El-Aissami on the ICE Most Wanted List for narcotics trafficking in February 2017. ICE accused El-Aissami recently of facilitating the shipment of more than 1,000 kilograms of narcotics from Venezuela to Mexico and the United States. Currently, the organization offers a reward of up to $10 million for assisting in the capture or arrest of El-Aissami.

Maduro since accused the United States of employing Heath to spy on the refineries and of being involved in the plan to bomb El Palito. The White House has yet to make a statement.